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For Chelmsford K-9, a Flacko jacket

By Grant Welker, gwelker@lowellsun.com

Updated:
01/15/2014 10:20:43 AM EST

Chelmsford police K-9 Officer David Leo poses with his K-9 partner ÔFlacko' as the dog sports a new bullet-proof vest from the Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog Fund on Tuesday at the Chelmsford police station. Sun/Bob Whitaker

CHELMSFORD -- It isn't only the officers who need to be kept safe from bullets on patrol. Their K-9 counterparts, which sniff for scents left by fleeing suspects or for hidden drugs, need protection, too.

Chelmsford police's K-9, Flacko, is now outfitted with a bulletproof vest made out of the same material the officers wear. The vest protects against bullets, stabs or other blunt forces, and it's completely unlike the vests dogs used to have.

"With the old vest, they'd just say 'small, medium or large' and throw it on him," said Officer David Leo, who has been with Flacko, a 3-year-old German shepherd, for about two years.

Flacko's vest cost more than $3,400, with about $2,200 coming from the group Massachusetts Vest-a-Dog, which recently provided vests to a dozen K-9s thanks to two anonymous $10,000 donations. The remainder was provided by the Chelmsford Police Patrolmen's Association.

Flacko's vest is among the more elaborate ones and includes an ability to mount a camera on the dog's back and special tactical hardware designed to be quiet for special missions. It was also custom-made for Flacko, who Massachusetts Vest-a-Dog President Kathy Hinds said is among the more specially trained K-9s in the state.

Most K-9s are patrol-duty dogs, able to track a lost child, help apprehend a suspect or recover evidence, Hinds said.

Flacko is used a few times a week, mostly for drug searches, but is also used in SWAT team operations. He trains often with Leo, a 20-year veteran, to stay fresh.

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"They have to be able to do their jobs exceptionally well," said Hinds, who started the Vest-a-Dog nonprofit in 2000.

The protective vests have proven to be helpful for K-9s, most recently last month in an incident in Quincy, Hinds said. A police dog was thrown by a suspect into part of an unfinished attic that had nails sticking out of the walls. The dog hit the wall and fell down the stairs but was not seriously injured, she said.

Vest-a-Dog has provided more than 370 K-9 vests, which generally cost between $925 and more than $3,100, the organization said. The organization has in recent years also provided bulletproof K-9 vests to Tyngsboro and Westford, and plans to do so soon in Dracut.

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